“All good things are wild and free.
”
-Henry David Thoreau

This weekend we went to La Jolla, a beautiful beach community here in San Diego. I’ve been sick for a couple of weeks, inside mostly, feeling a bit discouraged by my body’s refusal to cooperate with my life.

Winter is my favorite time to go to the beach. I love rolling up my sweats and layering against the cold wind. I love how the waves hit the rocks and seem wilder, freer than the easy come, easy go of summertime.

The quickest way to get out of my own head and into my soul is to go outside and let myself come into contact with nature. Especially the winter beach. I’m immediately reminded of the wildness of this world, the grand beauty. I’m reminded how healing breathing is. I am without distraction, which is — increasingly — how I want to live. I am present, taking in beauty, with those I love.

Rock. Water. Algae. Waves. Sky. We are invited to be wilder and freer when we interact with wildness and freedom. Where is that place for you? A scene that beckons you out of your frazzled mind and into your centered soul? A destination that provides perspective? Let’s make a habit of going there. What a brazen thing to do.